Laboratory of Hydrorefining, Process Engineering andApplied Thermodynamics from the School of Chemistry of UFRJ

H2CIN Briefing

HDT and HCC

The professors José Luiz de Medeiros and Ofélia de Q. F. Araújo have developed to PETROBRAS the process simulator H2CIN of oil fraction hydrotreatment (HDT) with a rigorous kinetic modeling of hydrogenation reaction network. The name H2CIN has been extended to the group research facility after the construction of the building of 1200 m², the Laboratory Paulo Emygdio de Freitas Barbosa - H2CIN. In this laboratory, the research line in oil fraction hydrogenation was expanded to pyrolysis gasoline HDT and HCC, using two semipilot plants (BRASKEM and PETROBRAS projects, respectively).

Applied Thermodynamics and Process Engineering

From reaction network modelling to flow networks, the H2CIN includes a wide range of researches based on Applied Thermodynamics and Process Engineering, with developments on process synthesis, simulation, control and optimization.

Flow processes are dealt in different contexts - gas, liquid and multiphase - highlighting: gas pipelines for the transport of CO2, natural gas and ethene; oil production risers and gas-lift processes. Associated to flow, developing stochastic tools for leakage detection is another excellence field of H2CIN and, in order to validate these detection systems, there is a Flow Loop built in the Laboratory.

Pre-salt layer

In the context of Pre-salt layers, the technological challenges related to the oil and natural gas production expand the research and development activities of H2CIN and include gas compression, transport and primary processing. Recent projects of the Laboratory continue the development of phenomenological models for the simulation and optimization of separation processes of CO2 and other contaminants from natural gas, dealing with operations involving amine absorption, gas-gas membrane permeation (hollow fiber and spiral wound) and gas-liquid membrane contactors. These studies have an experimental base related with the construction and instrumentation of a pilot plant of CO2 capture from Natural Gas at Low and High pressure by absorption in aqueous ethanolamine solutions and a pilot plant for MEG Recovery. These plants will be operational under the responsibility of H2CIN at the Natural Gas Center of Excellence (CEGN - Centro de Excelência de Gás Natural, in Portuguese), located at UFRJ's Technology Park, whose purpose is R&D activity on Natural Gas.

Green Engineering

The green look for the destination of the captured CO2 has been the driving force to take research efforts on the conception of Carbon Sequestration Industrial Parks centered in microalgae biomass that enable CO2 reuse. The research goes on with simulation results and experiments at a pilot photobioreactor patented by the H2CIN research group.